THE

Long Acre Ward Lecturers Book 1730

Author: 
Joseph Trapp
Publication details: 
1730
£450.00

Manuscript, 32pp., folio, vellum covers detached, poor condition but complete. Front endpaper is inscribed "Jos Trapp" perhaps indicating that it was held by Trapp, one of the lecturer/beneficiaries of donations. [Joseph Trapp, 1679-1747, poet and pamphleteer - see substantial article in DNB which reveals Jonathan Swift's role in his life].

Twelve Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed Letter Signed to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, [Secretary,] Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir William James Ashley
Publication details: 
5 August 1913 to 9 September 1916; mainly on '3, YATELEY ROAD, | EDGBASTON' and University of Birmingham letterheads.
£400.00

British economic historian (1860-1927), a disciple of Arnold Toynbee, and proponent of the historical method pioneered in Germany by such scholars as Roscher, Hildebrand and Knies. The manuscript items are all 12mo, the typed item quarto. All twelve docketed and bearing the Society's stamp, and signed 'W. T. Ashley'. The collection is in very good condition, though grubby in parts and with one or two creased corners. An interesting and characteristic correspondence. ITEM ONE (3 pages, 12mo, 5 August 1913): Declines proposal to act as examiner.

Part of manuscript list of ships, headed '<...> at this present yeare 1676'.

Author: 
French Navy, 1676 [SAMUEL PEPYS, SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY]
Publication details: 
Without place or watermark.
£1,000.00

On a piece of foxed and discoloured laid paper, dimensions roughly 12 inches by 8 inches. Edges fraying, and with loss to two corners affecting a text and a total of six entries. Cluster of small holes towards one corner, not affecting text. Bearing a circular red stamp, roughly half an inch in diameter, with a central shield surrounded by the words 'FORTE SCUTUM SALUS DUCUM'. Presumably the second of two leaves, with a total of ninety-two ships, numbered 74 to 165, arranged in three columns.

Manuscript headed '1765 | A List of Bank Officers applying for an advancement of Wages'.

Author: 
The Bank of England
Publication details: 
1765
£500.00

2 pages. 4to. A frail item in need of repair, discoloured with age, creased, and with some wear and loss and a number of closed tears. The text is very neatly written, with all but five of the ninety-four entries entirely legible. The otherwise blank verso of the second leaf of the bifoliate docketed with the heading and 'Hall Department'. There entries cover the years 1761 to 1764, and are divided into five columns: 'when elected', 'Names', 'Wages', 'when advanced' and 'Offices'. The second page is headed 'Accountants Office'.

Letter Signed (poss.. copy) to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
William Blathwayt
Publication details: 
Hague the 8th. Novr. 1701.'
£250.00

English politician (1649?-1717); Secretary to Sir William Temple at the Hague, 1668; on diplomatic missions to Rome, Stockholm and Copenhagen; Secretary of State to William III; Member of Parliament. One page. Dimensions of paper roughly seven inches by eleven. Poor: paper discoloured and with some loss to edges (affecting three words of text) and a closed tear. Recently repaired with archival tape and at an earlier period backed with paper. Verso attached to smaller leaf of blank paper. Fourteen lines of text.

Typed message (to departing employee?), on printed letterhead, with thirty-eight signatures (of work-colleagues?).

Author: 
Medici Society [Cobden-Sanderson]
Medici Society
Publication details: 
Without date; on the company's Grafton Street letterhead.
£100.00
Medici Society

Company founded in 1908 by Philip Lee Warner and Eustace Gurney, 'to bring artists' work to the appreciation of a wider public'. One page, quarto. Folded twice. Good, but slightly foxed and lightly creased. The typed message reads ' "The best of Prophets of the future is the Past" | With the best of wishes for future success.' The signatures are arranged in four columns. The inclusion of 'Cobden-Sanderson' is unexplained.

Copy of manuscript document 'To The Commissioners for Victualling His Majestys Navy' from 'R. M.'

Author: 
[Maritime History] [The West Indies] [Lord Hugh Seymour]
Publication details: 
His Majestys Ship Carnatio Port Royal Harbour Jamaica November 18. 1801'.
£200.00

4to. 4 pages. In poor condition: on paper creased, discoloured and frayed, with several closed tears, but with the text entirely legible. Apparently a copy, and docketed 'No. 1'. Seymour (1759-1801), the commander in chief at Jamaica, died of yellow fever on 11 September. 'R. M.' begins this unusually forthright document by informing the Commissioners that Seymour's death has caused their 'Letter relative to the public service' to pass under his inspection.

Twenty-one Typed Letters Signed to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Captain John Laurence Pritchard [The Royal Aeronautical Society]
Publication details: 
Between 1931 and 1934; all on letterhead of the Royal Aeronautical Society, of which Pritchard was secretary.
£100.00

Novelist and writer on aeronautics (1885-1968). All items one page, quarto. As a whole good, though grubby, but some items with pin holes, closed tears, etc. Most bearing the R.S.A. stamp and some docketed. Three items with enclosures. The items are dry communications relating to the arranging of R.A.S. lectures at the R.S.A.

Six Autograph Letters Signed, to [G. E.] Mercer[, Deputy Secretary,] and [J.] Samson[, Assistant Secretary,] of the Royal Society of Arts. Together with manuscript syllabus of a course of lectures.

Author: 
Sir John Newenham Summerson
Publication details: 
1958 to 1965; the first four on letterhead of Sir John Soane's Museum, the last two on letterhead 1 Eton Villas, NW3.
£150.00

Architectural historian (1904-92) and curator of Sir John Soane's Museum, 1945-84. Seven leaves, all very good, though some lightly creased and all with staple holes in top left-hand corner. The first three letters to Mercer and the last three to Samson. Three letters docketed. ITEM ONE (two pages, 12mo, 7 August 1958): He is 'much attracted' by the Society's invitation 'to give three Cantor lectures on Country Houses', 'especially as I understand the text of the lectures would be published'. There is however 'one rather grave difficulty.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'G Remington Esq'.

Author: 
Charles Lewis Gruneisen
Publication details: 
27 September 1873; on letterhead '16, Surrey Street, | Strand. W.C. | London.'
£23.00

Journalist and musical critic (1806-79), Paris newspaper correspondent, 1839-44, who sent dispatches by pigeon. One page, 12mo. In poor condition: grubby and heavily stained. 'Dear Sir | I have been abroad or I would have replied to your note ere this. I will be at home until Noon next Monday. | Yours faithfully | [signed] | C J Gruneisen'.

Autograph Letter Signed, apparently to his publishers Sampson Low & Co.

Author: 
Sir William Laird Clowes
Publication details: 
Sark. 9.9.02.'
£25.00

British naval historian (1856-1905), author of a standard history of the Royal Navy (7 vols, 1897-1903). One page, on piece of stiff paper, roughly four and a half inches by three and a half. In poor condition, discoloured and stained, and with one small hole and some fraying to extremities. Reads 'Thanks for yours of the 8th. | I am afraid that I can only express the hope that you will, in this case, keep the price as low as possible, - as I do not know the business aspects of the question.

Manuscript copies, perhaps in Berkeley's hand, of two letters from Gould to Berkeley, with two of Berkeley's replies.

Author: 
Hunting [Captain Charles Gould; George Charles Grantley Fitzhardinge Berkeley; the Lymington Hunt]
Publication details: 
27 to 30 November 1842.
£180.00

Berkeley was an author and sportsman [(1800-1881). Six pages, quarto. Good though grubby, and on discoloured paper. Removed from a letter book, and with the letters (all in the same hand) numbered 4 to 7. Concerns a dispute within the Lymington Hunt. LETTER 4: Gould to Berkeley, 27 November 1842, Muddiford near Christchurch. 'On my return Home late yesterday Evening I found that Mr. O'Kelly had been waiting for some hours to consult with me, relative to your letter to him of the 25th inst.

Three Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed Letter Signed to Kenneth Luckhurst, Secretary, and G. P. Griggs, Assistant Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, together with four unsigned carbons of Typed Letters from them to him.

Author: 
Sir Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith [AVIATION]
Publication details: 
1949-51; three on letterheads of the Victoria & Albert Museum.
£200.00

Historian of aviation (1909-81) at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Eight items, various formats. Very good. LETTER ONE (two pages, octavo, 14 January 1949, on V & A letterhead): 'As a very new fellow of the Society I hesitate to burden you with reading the enclosed [an article on 'Father Gusmao: the first practical pioneer in aeronautics', not present], but I thought there might be some chance of its appearing in the Journal. It is too historical for the Roy. Aeronautical Society's Journal and too aeronautical for the others, so I am stuck!

Autograph Letter Signed to the bookseller [George] Offor.

Author: 
Robert Mushet
Publication details: 
24 Augt 1819 | Mint'.
£65.00

Mushet (died 1828) was an officer of the Mint, and author of 'An Inquiry into the Effects Produced on the National Currency, and Rates of Exchange, by the Bank Restriction Bill' (1810). The recipient (1787-1864) edited Bunyan. One page, octavo. Good, on slightly grubby discoloured paper with one spike hole. Two short printed accounts of Musket laid down at foot of page. Reads 'Dear Sir | I shall be obliged to you to send me this afternoon or early tomorrow morning a Copy of Ede's Book of Coins'. Signed 'R Musket' and addressed, on revese of second leaf of bifoliate, to 'Mr.

Five Autograph Letters Signed to [G. K. Menzies,] the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Maurice Drake
Publication details: 
2 October 1922; 21 November 1922; 1 December 1922; 26 February 1923; 22 March 1923; the first four on letterhead 'The Three Gables, | Cathedral Close, | Exeter', the fifth on embossed letterhead 'COLWELL COTTAGE, | EXETER.'
£250.00

English glass painter and novelist (1875-1923). All five items in very good condition, and all but the third and fifth stamped and docketed. ITEM ONE: two pages, 4to. He will be 'delighed and honoured by reading a paper before the R.S.A.' Gives a choice of dates and states 'I shall want a lantern.' He wants 'to draw the Society's attention to the fact that the various processes in making a modern window follow the developments of stained glass from the 11th (or perhaps the 9th) century to the beginning of the 15th.' Explains his thesis in some detail, and discusses possible titles.

Autograph Letter Signed to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
George Herbert Whitaker [WHITAKER'S ALMANACK]
Publication details: 
22 January 1919; on letterhead 'Office of WHITAKER'S ALMANACK, | 12, WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW, | LONDON, E.C.'
£38.00

Bookseller and publisher (1862-1933). One page, 12mo. Very good, docketed with the Society's stamp. 'In reply to your circular letter, I beg to apply for admission as a Fellow of your Society and herewith forward my application together with my cheque value 2 guineas, which in the event of not being elected, please return to | Yours faithfully | George H. Whitaker'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to 'Mr. Perry'[, Secretary?, Royal Society of Arts].

Author: 
Maxwell Ashby Armfield
Publication details: 
22 March and 2 April 1931; the first on letterhead '8 Roland Gardens, London, S.W.7', the second on letterhead of the Greenleaf Theatre
£150.00

British stage designer (died 1971), painter, writer and lecturer. Both items one page, octavo, and very good, though lightly creased. Both signed 'Maxwell Armfield'. LETTER ONE (docketed and bearing R.S.A. stamp): He has read the lecture by 'Mr. Davis', 'with great interest [...] our opinions on the subject seem to be identical! I should like to meet him some time if he is an accessible sort of person. [...] a series of such lectures issued as pamphlets with attractive titles would do a great deal towards a better understanding of the problem'.

Yr American; yn Cynwys Nodau ar Daith O Ddyffryn Ohio i Gymru golwg ar Dalaeth Ohio, Hanes Sefydliadau Cymreig yn America . . .

Author: 
B.W. Chidlaw, A.M.
Publication details: 
Llanrwst: Argraffwyd, Gan John Jones, 1840.
£800.00

48pp., 12mo, unopened save title, original green wrappers, chipped, good condition"Yr Ail Argraffiad" (Second edition - no record found of a "First"). The author, in a "Notice" (the only English in the work), says "I have disposed of my Book called "The American," to Mr. J. Jones Printer, Llanrwst, and grant to him all the right and Claim to the same. / B.W. Chidlaw, A.M. / Paddy's Run, Ohio. / Llanrwst Decr. 25, 1839. The purpose of the pamphlet is to encourage Welsh emigration to Ohio, Indiana and Illinois at an interesting time.

Manuscript Indenture (counterpart of Lease of Brown's premises at no. 342 Strand), on parchment, signed by Brown.

Author: 
Alexander Brown, nineteenth-century bookseller in the Strand, London [Smith and Guscotte, Solicitors, 19 Essex Street, Strand]
Publication details: 
26 July 1865, London.
£125.00

Fifty-two long lines of text, on one side of a single piece of parchment, roughly inches by. '[...] Between John Guscotte of No. 19 Essex Street Strand [...] and Alexander Brown of No. 342 Strand in the County of Middlesex aforesaid Book Seller'. A ten-year lease for a consideration of sixty pounds and yearly rent of one hundred and four pounds. Includes conditions relating to the upkeep of the premises, whitewashing of the walls, display of advertisements, etc.

Autograph Signatures on fragment of document.

Author: 
William Behnes; George Robins
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

Behnes (died 1864) was a sculptor, and Robins (1778-1847) a flamboyant auctioneer. Very good, on piece of paper roughly two inches by three and a half. From a collection of Autograph Signatures cut from petitions to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund. Blank reverse.

Etched portrait, by W (?) Burton

Author: 
William Ewart Gladstone [W. Burton]
Publication details: 
[1889].
£20.00

A clean copy, on good thick paper, of an engraving, three versions of which are in the National Portrait Gallery (NPG D8332, NPG D8333, NPG D8334), where they are dated 1889, and described as being etched 'after a photograph originally published in the Pall Mall Gazette 'Grand Old Man' extra'. Dimensions of paper roughly nine inches by six, dimensions of image roughly five inches by four. Burton's signature is faintly etched at the foot of plate, and the print is docketed in pencil 'W E G' at the foot of the paper, with 'Burton 1/-' on reverse.

Autograph Signatures on fragment of document.

Author: 
Henry William Pickersgill; Thomas Uwins
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£18.00

Pickersgill (1782-1875) and Uwins (1782-1857) were both English artists who exhibited at the Royal Academy. Very good, on a piece of grey paper roughly two inches by four. From a collection of Autograph Signatures cut from petitions to the Artists' General Benevolent Fund. Blank reverse.

Autograph Letter 'To the Editor', entitled 'Phrenology', and signed 'Apollonius'.

Author: 
PHRENOLOGY [Wiveliscombe; Somerset Country Gazette]
Publication details: 
Wiveliscombe Decr 18th, 1840'.
£65.00

Two pages, quarto. On a discoloured piece of brittle, thin wove paper, with some fraying, several closed tears and a little loss (affecting three words). A long, able and closely-written defence of the discipline. '[...] | X appears decidedly opposed to an alarmed at the science, and feels himself awfully degraded with the comparisons drawn by Phrenologists between the human species and the lower animals - that they should exist, breathe, and partake of, in a limited degree, corresponding qualities with the human race.

Autograph Postcard Signed to 'Mrs. Black'.

Author: 
Eliza Lynn Linton
Publication details: 
Postmarked 8 January 1891; 'Queen Annes Mansions. St James's Park SW.'
£56.00

Novelist and miscellaneous writer (1822-98). Dimensions roughly five inches by three. Grubby and with minor fraying, loss and closed tears to edges (not affecting text). Printed halfpenny stamp and two postmarks in black ink. Addressed to 'Mrs. Black | 5 Hazlitt Road | W. Kensington | W.' 'I have not received ye Ladies Pictorial, but fine - all very well done with great sympathy & tenderness & so well written - I have begun by informal LSaturdays - & shall be very glad to see you if you could come'. Signed 'E: Lynn Linton'.

Autograph Note Signed to unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Anne Benson Procter [nee Skepper] [Bryan Waller Procter, 'Barry Cornwall']
Publication details: 
14 February 1874; 32 Weymouth St, Portland Place, W.
£45.00

Wife (1799-1888) of the English poet Bryan Waller Procter ('Barry Cornwall', 1787-1874), and stepdaughter of the noted jurist Basil Montagu. One page, 12mo. Very good on slightly paper, and with closed tear to blank second leaf of bifoliate. Written on behalf of her husband during his final illness. 'Mr Procter desires me to say that you have his ready permission to print The Old Arm Chair | I regret to say that my husband is now too feeble to write to you.' Signed 'Anne B. Procter'.

Autograph Letter Signed ['to Pinkham'].

Author: 
Sir William Reynell Anson
Publication details: 
20 August 1902; on letterhead 'GLENTROMIE, | KINGUSSIE, N.B.'
£45.00

English jurist (1843-1914), Warden of All Souls college, Oxford. Two pages, 12mo. On discoloured, grubby, creased paper, with a small closed tear and some bleeding due to damp on the verso. Extensive damp damage to blank second leaf of bifoliate. Docketed as 'To Pinkham'. Before leaving Oxford the previous week he 'ordered a somewhat miscellaneous collection of books' to be sent to his correspondent's library. 'It was a small collection - a few biographies, some college histories and one or two books which chanced to be in the booksellers catalogue & which looked interesting.

Autograph Letter to 'Sir J. Phillepart' [i.e. John Philippart].

Author: 
Cyrus Redding
Publication details: 
Thursday [docketed 'Feb 1847']; [10?] Hill Road, St John's Wood.
£80.00

Editor and journalist (1785-1870). The recipient (1784?-1874) was a writer on military matters, and editor of the United Services Journal. Two pages, 12mo. Good, though grubby, and with docketing, rust from paperclip and biographical details typed in line at head. A formal letter, unsigned and in the third person. 'Mr Redding presents his Compts. to Sir J. Phillepart with but scanty recollections for it is many years since they met and wishes to remind him of an article sent to the U[nited]. S[ervices]. J[ournal]. thro' Mr Hunt.

Autograph Note Signed to [Captain Rolfe Arnold] Scott-James.

Author: 
Georges Lafourcade
Publication details: 
15 May 1937; on letterhead of the Universite de Grenoble.
£35.00

French authority on English literature, and in particular on the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne. The recipient (1878-1959) was editor of the 'London Mercury' at the time of writing. One page, quarto. In poor condition, with fraying and closed tears to edges. 'I herewith return revised proofs of my French Novelists. | May I remind you that I should be glad to have some galley proofs if it can be easily arranged?' Signed 'Georges Lafourcade'.

Three Typed Letters Signed and one Autograph Letter Signed to Anne Marreco.

Author: 
James Pope-Hennessy
Publication details: 
1947, 1948 and 1963; London.
£150.00

Upper middle-class English writer (1916-74), editor of the 'Spectator' magazine 1947-9, biographer of Queen Mary, beaten to death by gay lover. The recipient (1912-82) was a writer under the pseudonym Alice Acland. Born Anne Acland-Troyte. Her first husband was Robert Egerton Grosvenor, 5th Baron Ebury, and her fourth Anthony Freire Marreco, the last survivor of the seven-strong British prosecuting team at Nuremberg, with whom she lived in Ireland. A series of camp, gossippy and revealing letters to a close friend.

Autograph letter signed to Donald Currie, shipowner.

Author: 
Lynedoch Gardiner
Publication details: 
21/03/79
£35.00

Groom in Waiting and Equerry to Queen Victoria (d.1897). Gardiner says that Currie's arrangments for the King of the Belgians cannot be bettered. He will order the carriages for 11 and meet at Westminster Bridge. Currie has added a list of names, English and Belgian, presumably of people involved in the visit.

Syndicate content